The Cinematheque

“The highly original and straight-from-the-heart films that resulted from their collaboration [made] the Hubleys exemplars for an entire up-and-coming generation of non-traditional animated filmmakers.”

Pat McGilligan, Film Quarterly

As directors of independent animation, Faith and John Hubley pursued what Faith called ​“the directness and passion of a child’s vision.” Their work was influenced by painting, jazz, and the rewards of listening closely to people, whether musicians like Dizzy Gillespie or their children, who appear in multiple films via direct audio recordings. Each film seeks alignment with what they most wanted to see in the world: a love extended to people as they are, and whatever else could withstand the soul-deadening effects of commercial industry. Faith started out in New York’s theatre scene, while John toiled under Disney before the animation strike of 1941. Together they ​“used improvisation to liberate animation from itself, to go to watercolours and to paint pastels.” Their influences include such revered artists as Picasso (for John), Paul Klee, and Joan Miró (for Faith), but the work is very simply about, to cite Adventures of an *, remembering how to play and how to see new things.

Adventures of an *
USA 1956
Faith Hubley, John Hubley
10 min. DCP

Windy Day
USA 1967
Faith Hubley, John Hubley
8 min. DCP

Date with Dizzy
USA 1956
Faith Hubley, John Hubley
11 min. DCP

The Tender Game
USA 1958
Faith Hubley, John Hubley
6 min. DCP

Moonbird
USA 1959
Faith Hubley, John Hubley
10 min. DCP

The Hole
USA 1962
Faith Hubley, John Hubley
15 min. DCP

Cockaboody
USA 1973
Faith Hubley, John Hubley
9 min. DCP

“A masterpiece … Strong, funny, preposterous, and then appallingly beautiful, because the children’s imaginations animated the animators’ pencils from the start.”

Joe Morgenstern, Newsweek, on Windy Day

“I think the obligation of animation is to deal with material that live action can’t, and to look for that form and content which is beyond an actor, which is beyond the adaptation of even a very fine book.”

Faith Hubley